Saturday, December 22, 2007

Pickled fresh sardines and pomegranate, tomato & lemon gelatina

Originally I planned this space for Seasoned Eatings, hosted by Lindsay and Katie, to spice up the wonderful holiday. However, I haven't received the package so far, and I am going to leave for Amsterdam tomorrow for a short vacation, right now please let me introduce this appetiser instead.
In the meantime, wish all my dearest friends have a wonderful holiday's season! And a very prosperous new year!

For pickling fish, I have sent a similar recipe to Chris, please head over her Seasoned Eatings' post and drool over her fantastic sandwich. You can use anchovy, but I found sardines super-fresh at market yesterday, so I used them instead.

Recipe of pickling fresh sardines(yield: 4 persons as appetiser)

8 sardines, preferable smaller size

500 ml white vinegar, or depending the size of the container you use

3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

2 bunches of fresh parsley, diced

black pepper

some very cold water

olive oil

coarse sea salt

How-to

clean the fish, cut off the head and tail. You may like to take out the main bone, but I didn't. Soak them in very cold water for 15 minutes. Pat dry.

Arrange them in a plastic contain, cover with wine vinegar, garlic, parsley and pepper. Cover. Marinate in fridge overnight.

Discard the vinegar, pat dry, carefully arrange them in a wider contain so that they won't overlap. Sprinkle coarse sea salt, cover with olive oil. Keep them in fridge until you ready to serve.

For making gelatina, I used agar-agar because I'm more familiar with it. However I eyeballed everything and couldn't tell you the exact measurement. Mainly, I slowly cooked the agar-agar in little water until it totally dissolved, mixed with juice from pomegranate and tomato. Adjusted the sweetness by adding sugar. Pour in a container and chill. Cut up your preferably size and arrange on the serving plate. Repeat the same procedure for the lemon gelatina.

For making the nutty cream, finely ground a small handful of pine nuts and a clove of garlic, mix with mayo.

Just a little something bite and you take it way over the top! Stunning Gattina!Have a wonderful time in Amsterdam! Really enjoyed our 24 hours there except for getting hit by the bicycle, I'd advice against that.

What an absolutely breathtaking picture to leave us with! It all looks so lush, with the colors and textures in full bloom. Thank you for your blog--it's always a delight to come here and see the magic you create. Happy Holidays!!!!!